Our Prayer Advocate

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God…let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:14,16

If Jesus has gone into the glory, how successful must our prayers be. You send a petition to court, and you hope for its success, for it is drawn up in proper style, and it has been countersigned by an influential person; but when the person who has backed your plea for you is himself at court, to take the petition and present it there, you feel safer still. To-day our prayers do not only receive our Savior’s imprimatur, but they are presented by His own hand, as His own requests. No prayer which Jesus urges can ever be dismissed unheard for that case is safe for which He is advocate.

“Look up, my soul, with cheerful eye
See where the great Redeemer stands;
The glorious Advocate on high,
With precious incense in His hands.

He sweetens every humble groan,
He recommends each broken prayer;
Recline thy hope on Him alone,
Whose power and love forbid despair.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Our Eternal Habitation

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. – John 14:3

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. – Ephesians 1:11

Beloved, let us reflect how secure is our eternal inheritance now that Jesus has entered into the heavenly places. Our heaven is secured to us, for it is in the actual possession of our legal representative, who can never be dispossessed of it. Possession is nine points of the law, but it absolutely secures completely our tenure under the gospel. He who possesses a covenant blessing shall never lose it, for the covenant cannot be changed, nor its gifts withdrawn. We are heritors of the heavenly Canaan by actual hold and sure title, for our legal representative, appointed by the highest court of judicature, has entered into possession and actual occupancy of the many mansions of the great Father’s house. He has not merely taken possession, but He is making all ready for our reception and eternal inhabitation. A man who enters a house and claims it, if he has any question about his rights, will not think of preparing it for the inhabitants, he will leave any expenditure of that kind till all doubts are cleared up: but our good Lord has taken such possession of the city of the new Jerusalem for us, that He is daily preparing it for us, that where He is we may be also. If I could send to heaven some mere human being like myself to hold my place for me till my arrival, I should fear that my friend might lose it: but since my Lord, the King of heaven and the Master of angels, has gone thither to represent all His saints and claim their places for them, I know that my portion is secure. Rest content, beloved, and sing for joy as the apostle’s heart did when he wrote “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Our Trust and Joy

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:18

The presence of Jesus Christ on earth would have been, to a great extent, a perpetual embargo upon the life of faith. We should all have desired to see the Redeemer; but since, as man, He could not have been omnipresent, but could only have been in one spot at one time, we should have made it the business of our lives to provide the means for journeying to the place where He might be seen; or if He himself condescended to journey through all lands, we should have fought our way into the throng to feast our eyes upon Him, and we should have envied each other when the turn came for any to speak familiarly with Him. Thank God we have no cause for clamor or strife or struggle about the mere sight of Jesus after the flesh; for though once He was seen corporeally by His disciples, yet now after the flesh know we even Him no more. Jesus is no more seen of human eyes; and it is well, for faith’s sight is saving, instructing, and transforming, but mere natural sight is not so. Had He been here we should have regarded much more the things which are visible, but now our hearts are taken up with the things which are not seen, but which are eternal. This day we have no priest for eyes to gaze upon, no material altar, no temple made with hands, no solemn rites to satisfy the senses; we have done with the outward and are rejoicing in the inward. Neither in this mountain nor in that do we worship the Father, but we worship God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. We now endure as seeing Him who is invisible; whom, having not seen, we love; in whom, though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory…In an unseen Savior we fix our trust, from an unseen Savior we derive our joy. Our faith is now the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Our Celestial Burgess-rights

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. – Colossians 3:1,2

Our Bridegroom has gone into the ivory palaces, He dwelleth in the midst of His brethren; do we not hear Him calling us to commune with Him? Hear ye not His voice, “Rise up My love, My fair one, and come away”? Though awhile our bodies linger here, let our spirits even now walk the golden streets, and behold the King in His beauty. Begin, O faithful souls, to-day the occupation of the blessed, praising God even while ye linger yet below, and honoring Him if not by the same modes of service as the perfect ones above, yet with the same obedient delight. “Our conversation is in heaven.” May you and I know what that means to the full. May we take up our celestial burgess-rights, exercise our privileges and avocations as heavenly citizens, and live as those that are alive from the dead, who are raised up together and made partakers of His resurrection life. Since the Head of the family is in the glory, let us by faith perceive how near we are to it, and by anticipation live upon its joys and in its power.

No, earth, my treasure, is not here with thee, neither shall my heart be detained by thee. Thou art, O Christ, the rich treasure of Thy people, and since Thou art gone Thy people’s hearts have climbed to heaven with Thee. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Rejoicing in His Rejoicing

(Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.) – Ephesians 4:9,10

It should afford us supreme joy to remember that He who descended into the lower parts of the earth has now “ascended up far above all heavens.” The descent was a subject of joy to angels and men, but it involved Him in much humiliation and sorrow, especially when, after having received a body which, according to the psalmist, was “curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth,” He further descended into the bowels of the earth and slept as a prisoner in the tomb. His descent on earth, though to us the source of abounding joy, was full of pain, shame, and humiliation to Him. In proportion, then, ought to be our joy that the shame is swallowed up in glory, the pain is lost in bliss, the death in immortality. Did shepherds sing at His descent, let all men sing at His rising. Well deserves the warrior to receive glory, for He has dearly won it. Our love of justice and of Him compels us to rejoice in His rejoicing. Whatever makes the Lord Jesus glad makes His people glad. Our sympathy with Him is most intense; we esteem His reproach above all wealth, and we set equal store by His honor. As we have died with Him, were buried with Him in baptism, have also risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God who raised Him from the dead, so also have we been made to sit together in the heavenly places, and have obtained an inheritance. If angels poured forth their sweetest minstrelsy when the Christ of God returned to His royal seat, much more should we…We may well say with the psalmist, in the sixty-eighth Psalm, “Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His name JAH, and rejoice before Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

A Life of Trust in God

 Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. – 1 Peter 5: 6,7

“We ought to have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live above the world. We are not to be idle; that would show we did not trust in God, who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who is the father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash; that were to trust chance, and not the living God, who is a God of economy and order. Acting in all prudence and uprightness, we are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times…Serve God with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty of self-contradiction. He who trusts in craft sails this way to-day, and that way the next, like a vessel tossed about by the fickle wind; but he that trusteth in the Lord is like a vessel propelled by steam; she cuts through the waves, defies the wind, and makes one bright, silvery, straightforward track to her destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within; never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your path of integrity with steadfast steps, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength which confidence in God alone can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking care, you will not bo troubled with evil tidings, your heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we cast our burdens upon the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

(FB source)

Go to the Source of Life

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. – Romans 6:23

Apart from Christ we are dead in trespasses and sins; look at the depth of our degradation! But in Christ we live- live with His own life. Look at the height of our exaltation, and let our thankfulness be proportioned to this infinity of mercy. Measure if you can from the lowest hell to the highest heaven, and so great let your thankfulness be to Him who has lifted you from death to life.

Union with Christ makes you live; keep up your enjoyment of that union, that you may clearly perceive and enjoy your life. Begin with the prayer, “Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee.” Think much of the spiritual life and less of this poor carnal life, which will be soon be over. Go to the source of life for an increase of spiritual life. Go to Jesus. Think of Him more than you have done; pray to Him more; use His name more believingly in your supplications. Serve Him better and seek to grow up into His likeness in all things. Life is a growing thing. Your life only grows by getting nearer to Christ; therefore, get under the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Time brings you nearer to Him, you will soon be where He is in heaven; let grace bring you nearer also. You taste more of His love as fresh mercies come; give Him more of your love, more of your fellowship. Abide in Him, and may His word abide in you henceforth and forever, and all shall be to His glory. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0968.cfm